Meeting between teacher and parents in a school: although most of them are bilingual, the meeting is entirely in Spanish. One day a teacher asked the question. Another mother, the monolingual, protests abruptly.

Most of the parents have looked angrily at the sacrilegious Basque mother: she hasn’t broken the Spanish Pax of the meeting! The half-hearted harmony of the meeting is over.

Central supremacism is widespread in us. Those of us who make an effort to live in Basque can give countless other examples similar to these, since almost every day we are “lucky” to meet one or more supremacists.

Erdal supremacism is indirect, interclass. You will always be forced by the gendarmerie and the civil guard. Often it’s the police or the police, the doctors or the nurses, the directors or the bartenders who accidentally or not.

On the other hand, the monolingual and bilingual people who live in Erdara have no clue about the linguistic oppression to which we Basques are subjected. They don't even know there's a linguistic conflict. They cannot know it, because in practice they live by becoming part of the Erdal community and/or by fully accepting its rules.

Thus, the fact that most Basque speakers do not want to learn Basque seems “normal” or fair to many Basques as well. On the other hand, many consider it “abnormal” or an extreme attitude that other Basques want to live in Basque.

Thus, most of the Basque Country residents have the conviction that in their presence we Basques must do it with the Basque Country; they believe that whatever we do, we must also do it with the Basque Country, so that they understand everything without problems, without having to make any effort.

Thus, most Basques consider immigrants to be “foreigners” from outside Spain or France and not from Spain or France. These are counted as “displaced”, closer to the category of tourists, in search of better living conditions than those who left their country of origin.

And again, most Basques believe that “foreigners” should be asked to learn Spanish or French, but only half believe that they should be asked to learn Basque instead.

Dictionary of assimilated. The coffee is said to be called Baqué in the vicinity, if you believe the publicity. On the other hand, it is certain that assimilation has been called “coexistence”, as well as the dissolution of all our symbols of identity and the denial of our popular character.

We call political subordination “autonomy”, “economic pact” to a war tax, “flexibility” to docility, “essentialism” to the effort to maintain our identity, and “peace” to armed occupation without violent response.

“Normalization” to the process of linguistic substitution, “evolution” to the rapid disfigurement and impoverishment of the language, “richness” to the fact that the Basque monolingual has been left without the right to live in Basque, “imposition” to the desire to exercise the right to live in Basque, “right” to the refusal of monolingual erstoles to learn Basque, “flexibility” to temper and to the furious mediocrity...

We normalized the relationship. Because of the secular initiative of the oppressive states, it has occurred with the intentional or unintentional help of a part of our patriotic elites.

We have also had to build nationalist parties and unions, in Spanish/French, and we have turned the languages imposed on us by the oppressors into “our”, thanking the imposition and hating ours, many of us. Spanish and French are both “our” and “here” as well as Basque, not just in the words of the Unionists. Many nationalists speak the same way. The question goes to them:

If Spanish/French are “ours and here”, why the secular total imposition and prohibition of the Basque language? Why are both legally binding on each state even today?

Although we are said to be “better than before”, this is the current “excellent” situation, which cannot even be mentioned. It's the taboo. Unless the nationalist parties, trade unions and other organizations (the unionist doesn’t seem to be there to help) approach it with enthusiasm and confront it honestly, this country will disappear in the waters of the Spanish/French popular social nation... “with total flexibility” and without revealing ugly conflicts, yes.

JJ Agirre Martinez.
The veterinarian.